Some situations are tough to swallow, dontcha know?

By SEAN SNAITH

Published: Monday, May 27, 2013 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, May 25, 2013 at 4:46 p.m.

Fargo.

When you hear the name of North Dakota's most populous city, what comes to mind?

Perhaps it is springtime images of residents working frantically to lay down sandbags to stem the seemingly annual flooding of the Red River. The topography of Red River Valley in eastern North Dakota is extremely flat, allowing the wind to whip over the landscape, and the waters of the Red River to spread far and wide when it breeches the banks.

Or perhaps you imagine a bitterly cold, small town surrounded by snow-swept fields as far as the eye can see.

Or maybe you recollect scenes from the 1996 Coen brothers' dark comedy/drama movie of the same title. Most of that movie was filmed in Minnesota, which borders North Dakota to the east, with the Red River serving as the boundary for most of the border. The kidnappers in the film, however, do hail from Fargo. Many of the quirky characters that populate the film speak in the distinctive Minnesotan/North Dakotan accent, dontcha know?

What probably does not come to mind is a campaign stop there by then-Sen. Barack Obama on July 3, 2008. It was in his stump speech there that the future president said:

"The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents -- added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back -- $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic."

I agree completely with his statement, but would add unfair to the adjectives the senator used then to describe this run-up in the debt burden we are foisting upon our children and grandchildren.

It is not quite five years since candidate Obama uttered those words and we now are approaching $17 trillion in debt that our children, grandchildren and their children are going to have to pay back -- more than $52,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.

This debt does not even include the $124 trillion in unfunded liabilities from Medicare, Medicare part D and Social Security.

Irresponsible, unpatriotic? You betcha!

The pain of the 12-year spending spree that added $11 trillion to the national debt is dulled by historically low interest rates, as the average interest rate on Treasury debt is less than 2.5 percent, excluding inflation indexed Treasury debt.

Servicing this debt will become an increasingly difficult burden, as interest rates rise from the unusually low levels we are experiencing today.

The yield on a 10-year Treasury bond is currently under 2 percent. The 50-year average yield on the 10-year Treasury bond is just under 6.7 percent.

In other words, the interest rate on our Bank of China credit card is going up and our monthly payments will rise along with it, meaning that an increasingly larger slice of federal tax receipts will go toward servicing this debt.

The intergenerational unfairness of this massive run-up in the national debt is rarely discussed. Probably because it shines a spotlight on just how selfish it is to foist this large of a burden on future generations. That is not the image those responsible for this want to see reflected in the policy pool of water into which they stare.

In Washington, D.C., we see the paralysis setting in further. Entrenched by multiple scandals, it is unlikely much will be done in the next three years to curb this massive shift of debt onto future generations.

Future Americans are being forced to eat a plateful of fiscal lutefisk. Which, for those who aren't from Fargo or the Nordic countries, is a pungent dish of gelatinous, aged whitefish.

Distasteful and unfair?

Yah, you got that right.

Sean Snaith directs the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida. He is on several national forecasting panels, including USA Today's Survey of Top Economists, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Survey of Professional Forecasters and the Livingston Survey.

<p>Fargo.</p><p>When you hear the name of North Dakota's most populous city, what comes to mind?</p><p>Perhaps it is springtime images of residents working frantically to lay down sandbags to stem the seemingly annual flooding of the Red River. The topography of Red River Valley in eastern North Dakota is extremely flat, allowing the wind to whip over the landscape, and the waters of the Red River to spread far and wide when it breeches the banks.</p><p>Or perhaps you imagine a bitterly cold, small town surrounded by snow-swept fields as far as the eye can see.</p><p>Or maybe you recollect scenes from the 1996 Coen brothers' dark comedy/drama movie of the same title. Most of that movie was filmed in Minnesota, which borders North Dakota to the east, with the Red River serving as the boundary for most of the border. The kidnappers in the film, however, do hail from Fargo. Many of the quirky characters that populate the film speak in the distinctive Minnesotan/North Dakotan accent, dontcha know?</p><p>What probably does not come to mind is a campaign stop there by then-Sen. Barack Obama on July 3, 2008. It was in his stump speech there that the future president said:</p><p>"The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents -- added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back -- $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic."</p><p>I agree completely with his statement, but would add unfair to the adjectives the senator used then to describe this run-up in the debt burden we are foisting upon our children and grandchildren.</p><p>It is not quite five years since candidate Obama uttered those words and we now are approaching $17 trillion in debt that our children, grandchildren and their children are going to have to pay back -- more than $52,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.</p><p>This debt does not even include the $124 trillion in unfunded liabilities from Medicare, Medicare part D and Social Security.</p><p>Irresponsible, unpatriotic? You betcha!</p><p>The pain of the 12-year spending spree that added $11 trillion to the national debt is dulled by historically low interest rates, as the average interest rate on Treasury debt is less than 2.5 percent, excluding inflation indexed Treasury debt.</p><p>Servicing this debt will become an increasingly difficult burden, as interest rates rise from the unusually low levels we are experiencing today.</p><p>The yield on a 10-year Treasury bond is currently under 2 percent. The 50-year average yield on the 10-year Treasury bond is just under 6.7 percent.</p><p>In other words, the interest rate on our Bank of China credit card is going up and our monthly payments will rise along with it, meaning that an increasingly larger slice of federal tax receipts will go toward servicing this debt.</p><p>The intergenerational unfairness of this massive run-up in the national debt is rarely discussed. Probably because it shines a spotlight on just how selfish it is to foist this large of a burden on future generations. That is not the image those responsible for this want to see reflected in the policy pool of water into which they stare.</p><p>In Washington, D.C., we see the paralysis setting in further. Entrenched by multiple scandals, it is unlikely much will be done in the next three years to curb this massive shift of debt onto future generations.</p><p>Future Americans are being forced to eat a plateful of fiscal lutefisk. Which, for those who aren't from Fargo or the Nordic countries, is a pungent dish of gelatinous, aged whitefish.</p><p>Distasteful and unfair?</p><p>Yah, you got that right.</p><p><i>Sean Snaith directs the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida. He is on several national forecasting panels, including USA Today's Survey of Top Economists, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Survey of Professional Forecasters and the Livingston Survey.</i></p>